"Tłumaczenie" jakoś później, na razie mogę podesłać Wam króciutki opis zmagań po angielsku. Wiem że jest baaardzo oględny.
Sitting at home, writing this, I still feel pretty exhausted (and a bit dizzy at times) from what I finished a week ago. For me @atlasmountainrace was 108h of otherworldly & fairylike but also ruthless & utterly gruelling adventure. Something I've never experienced in any race or travel before. Don't get me wrong - it was well worth the effort and lots of fun! Still - the most hostile environment and circumstances I've ever been in.
First evening Morocco threw at us 3 waves of violent hail-thunder-hurricane-storm. Flash-floods/rivers occured. Two guys got flushed off literally. One was outright out of the race because his bike and eq was gone. The next day was a plague of sickness. I got it, too. Not a severe one, luckily. Competitive racing was over for me though. Feeling weak since noon, with stomach ache, unable to eat properly, I slowly carried on. Took multiple breaks to lay flat on dirt or rocks for a couple of minutes. We also had hours of strong headwinds not to make things too easy. In the evening I was happily anticipating a hot, decent meal. Soup was great but then my stomach didn't allow me to eat more than 2-3 small bites of a delicious-looking tajine. Went to sleep at the restaurant's very raw guestroom for 4 hours, hoping to get better.
To my relief, I did. Ate some bread for breakfast and set off into darkness. We had only 13h of daylight. By the end of Monday I wasn't sure what's worse - occasional hard times finding our path in barren deserts in the night or the scorching sun of the day. Yeah, it started grilling us hard that day and kept on ever since. The day ended for me in mystical chambers of a hidden palace of the CP2. Left it's comforts at 2:30am, having eaten well, showered, resupplied and napped for 2h.
Tuesday was the day to tackle the Old Colonial Road in dehydrating swelter. The nasty, rocky section of 50km took me 5h and got me VERY thirsty and dizzy from both the heat and effort (in total 62km shop to shop). Spent almost an hour drinking, eating ice-cream, cooling down. Then I tried to have a nap but couldn't fall asleep. Spent the evening and night fighting off sleepiness and making my way towards CP3. Reached it before sunrise, rested, ate, napped for 20minutes and then began the last chapter of the journey.
I'd bet Wednesday was the hottest, especially in the valleys. Had to take numerous cooldown breaks. I guess that last part wasn't particularly tough in terms of terrain - 100km and 2000m up for starters, with quite much tarmac and concrete. Though it had multiple steep climbs where I was once again thankful for having a 34x10-52 gearing in my @rockrider_bikes. Before heading into the plains, at km1075 we had one more torturous uphill section of loose rocks. Combined with extreme heat - it was hell. Decided to walk most of that 2000m. My longest stroll. Had it not been for the swelter, I'd have cycled it nearly in its entirety. Up until km1100 there were a couple more hills but afterwards it was an easy 73km ride towards the finish. Just had to reinflate and repair my battered tyres which started leaking air in the last hours.
So I did this crazy 2h sprint through the suburbs and streets of Agadir, ran into the hotel-finish at 20:59 and... it was empty. Nobody to give me a stamp at my brevet card. My tracker was dead, so was my mobile and nobody was expecting me :p. Noticed another rider Rodney somewhere in the lobby and together we got Nelson to come down and validate my finish. Turned out everyone was eating supper, which I promptly and happily joined - in stylish, dirty lycra :p.
Well, turns out this brief description is focused on the hardships. Sorry :p. AMR really is an enormous challenge. It's totally remote. Food & water is scarce. Sun is scorching. Make sure you do come prepared. Take a mountain bike, not a gravel. The route is so much ROCKY and bangs your hands & body all the time. Very little relief. HOWEVER it's also a magical world you've probably never seen before. Like an ancient civilisation. There's an undeniable beauty in those deserts and mountains. The stars are mesmerizing and so vivid. Although the environment is so hostile, the people seem to be friendly and helpful (would be useful to speak French to talk to them). This race definitely makes you want MORE.
Once again - thanks for all the support I got!
Foty od Ariela Wojciechowskiego
